Introduced by Andy Chambers

Greetings citizens, and welcome to The Emperor’s Most Beneficent

Chapter Approved column. The foul canker of The Alien is always an
affront to the Imperium but it is my unpleasant duty to release details of
another alien threat this month – that of the race known as Necrons. The
well-known deviant and heretic Rick Priestley (Inq. file crossref.
21/20/21/7.5st. “Crimes against Sanity” Vol XXIV) has prepared a treatise
on these highly dangerous raiders (ably assisted by Scribe Primus Gav
Thorpe). All loyal commanders are advised to examine this information and
be on the lookout for Necron depredations in all Segmentum. After this we
have a summary of information on the corrupted Terminators of the thrice cursed Traitor
Legions, from Agent Jervis Johnson. At no little cost to his own sanity, he has uncovered
details of Chaos Terminators who have pledged themselves utterly to the dark gods, gaining
foul blessings in exchange for their immortal souls. I have also released additional information
in response to queries from commanders about certain of the common rules of engagement,
in the form of questions and answers.

NECRONS
By Rick Priestley

First Contact
Comments on the Necron army list
This info on Necrons is an early draught (with an eye towards a
Codex later), and we could use some feedback on it and how it
plays. What we want to do is put together a database to track
the success (or lack of it) enjoyed by Necron forces. You can
help out by reporting on the results of games involving Necrons.
Just send a postcard in to Chapter Approved with the following
information on it.
What armies fought (ie. Necrons vs ?????).
What points value the game was.
What scenario you played.
The names of you and your
opponent.
What the result was.
Of course other comments on
rules, points values, etc. are
welcome, but please don’t send in
ideas for new troop types and
weapons – we’ve already got plenty!
 ®
As you might know, the new Warhammer 40,000
book includes lists for all the major Warhammer
40,000 armies but not a list for the Necrons. This
is because at the time the book was written we
didn’t want to include a Necron list as the Necron
race was (and still is) under development.
Anything we might have written would have been
subject to rapid change so we decided to leave
things to White Dwarf. None-the-less miniature
designer Dave Andrews has found time in his
action-packed schedule to fit in some cool new
Necrons amongst all the Battlefleet Gothic
spaceships, Chaos Space Marines and exciting
new projects which we’ll be telling you about soon.
The lists and new rules in this article enable you to
field a force of Necrons using the new Warhammer
40,000 game. It wasn’t too hard to put this article
together because the ideas for the new
Warhammer 40,000 game were already well
established when the original Necron rules were
written (in fact the Necron rules were originally
designed to work with the new Warhammer 40,000
and I had a devil of a job retro-designing them for
the old version). In a sense they are the first new
race to be developed for the latest version of the
rules. That’s if you don’t count the Kroots (counting
Kroots is a recognised medical condition round
these parts).
THE STORY SO FAR
The story of the discovery of the Necrons and
some insight into their long and disturbing history
can be found in WD issues 217 and 218. To
summarize briefly... ‘the Necrons are a biologically
dead race that was wiped out in a galaxy wide
catastrophe approximately 60 million years ago.
Faced with extinction the Necrons constructed
metal bodies as repositories for their hyper-
advanced minds. To weather the impending
galactic bio-meltdown the Necrons constructed
huge stasis chambers to shelter inside. They have
been there ever since, resting until a such time
that the galaxy was safe for them to emerge.’
The discovery of some of these stasis chambers
72
Necron raiders overwhelm an Imperial outpost.
has triggered the emergence of isolated groups of
Necrons all over the galaxy. Quite what their
purpose is remains something of a mystery.
Necrons confine their activities to raiding and
taking captives. They are known to perform grizzly
biological experiments upon human prisoners.
Some believe that the Necrons, possessed as they
are of a vastly superior scientific knowledge, are
attempting to rebuild their race in biological form.
Others hypothesise that the Necrons are no longer
possessed of rational minds. Some say that
millions of years of stasis has degenerated the
Necrons’ electronically encoded personalities so
that only crude instincts and half-remembered
purposes remain to drive their metallic bodies.
THIS LIST IS…
The Necron army isn’t finished yet! The models
currently available are just the start of what will
eventually be a complete army to which we plan to
add plastic models, vehicles and a range of troop
types. We fully intend to make special pieces and
everything you’d expect from an army. Right now
we’re still trying out new ideas and dreaming up
new troops and machines. Some of these are a bit
too raw and bleeding to be wheeled into public
view just yet. So, please take this list for what it
is… a working copy of a list for a new Warhammer
40,000 race which is still in development.
SPECIAL RULES
White Dwarfs 217 and 218 included a variety of
special rules for Necrons. Many of these were
designed to make Necrons work in the old WH40K
and are not needed in the new game. In other
cases we’ve changed the way the Necrons work
because we wanted to or because there seemed
an overwhelming response from players to have
them work a certain way.
1. NECRON WEAPONS
Necrons have four different kinds of gauss
weapons: the gauss gun carried by Necron
Warriors, larger gauss blasters carried by Necron

Immortals and the heavy gauss cannon, mounted
on Necron Destroyers. These were described
pretty thoroughly in previous White Dwarfs, except
for the blaster which is new. The fourth type of
gauss weapon is the gauss grenade. Unlike most
other weapons, gauss weapons have the ability to
‘flay’ chunks of metal from even the most heavily
armoured vehicles, and this gives them a certain
amount of penetrating power beyond what might
be expected. To represent this a hit on a vehicle
from a gauss weapon will always score a Glancing
Hit on the score of a 6, even if the target’s armour
value is greater than could normally be penetrated.
Necron Lords carry a staff of light – a mysterious,
short ranged weapon with the profile shown below.
Gauss grenades are used in assaults against
vehicles. Any hit inflicted on the target by a unit
equipped with gauss grenades will score a
Glancing Hit on a D6 roll of a 6 regardless of the
vehicle’s armour value. However, as with krak
grenades and melta-bombs, only 1 attack can be
made per model. No bonus attacks are added from
additional weapons, charging, or anything else.
NECRON WEAPONS SUMMARY
RANGED WEAPONS
Weapon Range Str. Armour Notes
Piercing
Gauss Gun 24" 4 5 Rapid Fire
Gauss Blaster 24" 5 4 Assault 2
Gauss Cannon 36" 6 4 Heavy 3
Staff of Light 12" 5 3 Assault 3
2. MORALE
In the new 40K the loss of unit morale represents
the way a unit falls back under fire, rather than
turning on its heels and running off in a complete
tizz as in the old game. Although Necrons are
unlikely to panic or flee, they will retreat where
circumstances make it sensible, logical, or
advantageous to do so. For this reason Necrons
take morale checks as described in the game
rules.
A broken Necron squad that is assaulted regroups
automatically – the Necrons reconsider their
withdrawal in the light of the immediate danger.
This also applies if an enemy advances after a
Necron unit after breaking them in an assault – the
broken Necrons regroup at the end of their fall
back move, just like Space Marines. Note that
Necrons can be destroyed in a crossfire, in which
case the models are removed immediately. The
Necrons are not actually destroyed or
surrendering, they use their internal teleporters to
remove themselves from the battlefield before they
can be seriously damaged.
When it comes to regrouping, ignore the
requirement for a unit to be at 50% of its starting
strength. Necrons can always attempt to regroup
although they must still pass a Leadership test to
do so.
®
3. 25% PHASE OUT
Although Necrons are not affected by panic or
disaffection, being for the most part mechanical,
they can still recognise a hopeless situation. Once
the number of functioning Necron models is down
to 25% or less of the original size of the force, the
remainder will automatically phase out using their
internal teleporters. Any models which are out of
action do not count towards the remaining force,
and will automatically phase out together with the
rest. This is the only way to drive away a Necron
force – destroy at least 75% of them!
4. SCARABS
Scarabs now work in quite a different way
compared to the earlier set of rules. They now
come in units and they can fight in close combat.
They also explode! As this makes them more
conventional in most respects, they are covered by
the army list entry.
5. WE’LL BE BACK!
If a Necron Warrior, Immortal or character model
should be ‘killed’ do not remove it from the tabletop
but lay the model down instead. The model is ‘out
of action’ but, being a Necron, gets a chance to
make a comeback in its following turn.
At the start of the Necron player’s turn roll a dice on
behalf of each ‘out of action’ Necron Warrior or
Necron Immortal model that is within 6" of at least
one other ‘living’ Necron model of the same type.
Any Warrior or Immortal models which are ‘out of
action’ but not within 6" of a functional Necron of
the same type will automatically ‘phase out’ and
are removed from the game. The Necron player
can also roll a dice on behalf of any Necron Lords
that are out of action, regardless of whether there
are other Necrons nearby. Necron models hit by a
weapon which inflicts instant death (ie: weapons
with twice the Strength of the Necrons’ Toughness)
are totally obliterated and are removed
straightaway – there is no chance of them self-
repairing.
SCORE RESULT
1-3 Necron is beyond repair. Model
phases out from the battlefield
and disappears. Remove the
model as a casualty.
4-6 Necron rises to its feet ready to
continue fighting. It will
immediately move to join the
closest unit of the same type if it is
a Warrior or Immortal. Move the
model into coherency distance if it
is not already within 2”. Once
joined with a unit, the Necron
moves and fights with it – any
movement it may have already
made is disregarded.
6. VICTORY POINTS
See this month’s Chapter Approved ‘Questions
and Answers’ section for rules on how to work out
victory points for combined units.
73
 ®

NECRON LORD
Points WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
Necron Lord 85 4 4 5 5 3 4 3 10 3+

It is unknown whether these powerful Necron Lords are the leaders of

the Necron attacks or whether they exist for another more sinister
purpose.
Weapons: The Necron Lord carries a staff of light.
Special rules: A Necron Lord is an independent character as covered by
the rules in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.

Necron Lord

NECRON IMMORTAL
Points WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
Necron Immortal 28 4 4 4 5 1 2 1 10 3+

Necron Immortals are heavily armoured, extremely tough Necrons,

who carry the terrifying gauss blaster weapon.
Squad: The squad consists of between 5 and 10 Necron Immortals.
Weapons: Necron Immortals are armed with gauss blasters.
Options: The entire squad can have gauss grenades at a cost of +2 points
per model.
Necron Immortal

NECRON WARRIOR
Points WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
Necron Warrior 18 4 4 4 4 1 2 1 10 3+

Necron Warriors are super tough robotic killing machines of unknown

origin, armed with the deadly and equally mysterious gauss gun.
Squad: A squad consists of between 5 and 10 Necron Warriors.
Weapons: Necron Warriors are armed with gauss guns.
Options: The entire squad can have gauss grenades at a cost of +2 points
per model.

Necron Warrior
 ®

NECRON DESTROYER
Points WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
Necron Destroyer 50 4 4 4 (4)5 1 2 1 10 3+

Necron raiding forces are accompanied by swarms of aerial attack

vehicles or Destroyers.
Squad: The squad consists of between 3 and 5 Necron Destroyers.
Weapons: A Necron Destroyer is armed with a gauss cannon.
Options: See ‘Heavy Gauss Cannon’ below.
Special Rules
Destroyers: Destroyers are equivalent to jetbikes and are covered by
the Bike/Jetbike rules in the main rulebook. This means that they can
mount heavy weapons and shoot as if stationary and, of course, they
get the +1 Toughness bonus as shown on the profile. Check page 94
of the rulebook for rules covering bikes. Necron Destroyer with gauss cannon
I’ll Be Back: If a Destroyer goes out of action it cannot make a self-repair and come back as a Destroyer.
However, its rider can make a return as a Necron Warrior assuming it is within 6" of a Necron Warrior unit.
When a Destroyer falls casualty place a prone Necron model over the spot and make the I’ll Be Back roll as
normal.

WEAPON OPTIONS
Some of our playtesters felt that the Necrons’ lack of a heavier weapon put them at a disadvantage over
well armoured forces such as Imperial Guard. In part this is because the Necrons are light raiders by
nature, and in part because we’d like to do a heavier weapon variant later! Meanwhile, we’ve added this
option to upgrade Necron Destroyers with heavy gauss cannons.
Up to one Necron Destroyer per squad may upgrade its gauss cannon to a heavy gauss cannon at a cost
of +10 pts.
Weapon Range Strength AP Type
Heavy Gauss Cannon 36" 9 3 Heavy 1*
*As with other gauss weapons, a hit will always penetrate armoured vehicles on the roll of 6 even if the
armour value is 16+(!).

SCARAB
Points WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
Scarab 6 4 0 3 3 1 2 1 10 4+

Necron raids include large numbers of small beetle-like robots, dubbed Scarabs by the
Imperial Guard. These Scarabs latch themselves onto enemy machines before self
destructing in spectacular explosions.
Squad: The squad consists of 3 to 5 Scarabs.
Scarabs: Scarabs move and fight in the same way as jetbikes, as covered by the rules for
bikes and jetbikes in the main rulebook. They do not get a +1 Toughness bonus. Check page
94 of the rulebook for rules covering jetbikes.
Destruct: Instead of attacking in close combat a Scarab can self-destruct instead. This
causes one automatic hit on each target in base contact at a Strength of 3 and armour
piercing value of 2. Against vehicles this causes 3 + 2D6 penetration. The Scarab is destroyed
as a result (and can’t save!). Work out damage on the target as normal. 75
 ®

NECRON ATTACK
NECRON SCENARIOS
When fighting against Necrons, use the following Force Organisation charts and Mission Generator.
These represent surprise attacks by Necrons, enemy forces stumbling on a Necron stasis chamber or

NECRON
COMPULSORY OPTIONAL FORCE
1 HQ 1 more HQ
2 Troops 4 more Troops
Note that the
2 Heavy Necrons do not have
Support any Heavy Support
3 Elites units at the moment,
3 Fast Attack
HQ ELITES but we’ve included
them on the Force
Organisation chart in
case we introduce
some later or you
wish to invent some
suitably bizzare
creations of your
HEAVY
SUPPORT
own.
TROOPS TROOPS FAST ATTACK

ENEMY FORCE
As you can see, the COMPULSORY OPTIONAL
Necrons’ foes do not 1 Troops 1 HQ
have access to many 5 more Troops
2 Heavy
specialised units – Support
the Necrons are 1 Elites
often found on very 2 Fast Attack
HQ ELITES
isolated worlds by
small scouting
forces, and there
have been no
reports of them
engaging in large
scale battles with a
numerous foe. HEAVY
FAST ATTACK SUPPORT
TROOPS TROOPS

FORCES TERRAIN
Both players pick their forces from the Force Set up the terrain in any mutually agreeably
Organisation charts given here, to an agreed manner, taking into account any special
points value. features due to the mission being fought.

76
 ®

“We had been readying ourselves to raid an isolated human

settlement on the desert world of Naogeddon, when the
soulless ones attacked. The strike came as swiftly as it did After choosing your armies roll a dice.
silently. Before any of us knew it, one hundred or more
perfectly synchronised, silver nightmares had risen from the 1 BREAKOUT*
sand surrounding us. All we could do was defend ourselves
2 NIGHT FIGHT
as they advanced methodically upon us, tightening the circle
and bringing their ancient guns to bear. 3 RESCUE
I personal defeated enough to make them withdraw – they 4 AMBUSH**
had however achieved their apparent goal. I was the only 5 STRONGPOINT ASSAULT***
survivor of the ambush, the bodies of my fallen warriors were
dragged away beneath the sand, a twisted parody of what I 6 MEATGRINDER**
had intended for the human survivors of my own ill-fated * The Necrons are the defenders.
attack.” ** The Necrons are always the attacker (even
Account of Lord Skarsila, Archon of the Kabal of the Black Claws. against Dark Eldar).
*** Use Strategy Rating to determine attacker. As
If you wish to play against a Necron army, but you haven’t pre- Necrons can be encountered at varying levels of
arranged to do this (you’ve gone to a club or whatever) you may dormancy, they have a Strategy Rating of D3,
find that your army is not allowed within the Force Organisation rolled for every battle.
given above. If this is the case, any excess units in your army
represent additional forces that are close by to lend a hand. For
example, if you had three Heavy Support choices in your army,
only one would be in your main force, the other two would be reinforcements. You may choose which of your
excess units are the reinforcements, and these must be placed in reserve, even in missions which do not
normally allow reserves. If the scenario normally uses reserves, these reinforcing units suffer a -1 modifier to
their dice rolls when testing to see if they turn up, otherwise the reserve rules are used as written.
In scenarios which do not normally use reserves, when your reinforcements arrive they may move on from any
table edge within your deployment zone. In a Breakout (where you have no table edge in your deployment
zone) your reinforcements will arrive from the centre of one of the long table edges – roll a dice for each unit
when it arrives to see which edge it moves on from.

The Necrons gather under the leadership of a sinister Necron Lord.


&
Some units can grow or shrink because
Q models leave them or join them during the
game – for example Orks ‘mobbing up’, Blood
Angels joining the Death Company, Necrons
repairing themselves (wow, what an insightful
question this is) and so on. How are victory points
worked out for these units at the end of the game?
In all cases like this it is the units that were
A originally chosen by the player which are
important, and VPs are awarded for them.
Models which go off and join other units are
considered casualties for the purposes of working
out half strength and victory points for the unit they
left. The original size of a unit is used for calculating
a unit’s half strength for victory points, even if it has
had models added in later. However a unit’s current
size is used for working out if it has suffered 25%
casualties in one turn and needs a Morale check.
For example: take two Ork mobs, both 16 strong
when they are chosen by the Ork player. One mob
is badly battered in the game and reduced to 8
strong, but manages to ‘mob up’ with the other Orks,
making them 24 strong. At the end of the game the
mob which was battered and joined the other Ork
mob is considered destroyed for the purposes of
VPs – the surviving Orks which mobbed up are
considered casualties. The other mob which got
boosted to 24 models strong only counts as half
strength for victory points if it gets reduced to 8
models (50% of its original size).
RAPID FIRE
Q Can Eldar Wraithlords take cover saves?
A Yes, providing the cover at least reaches their
knees.
Q Can Terminators use grenades?
A No.
Q Do frag grenades or cover override the penalty
of striking last for using a power fist?
A No.
Q The Space Marine Codex lists vehicle upgrades
in several different places which sometimes
contradict each other. What are the proper rules?
A Vehicles may only take upgrades specifically
listed in their army list entry.
Q In the rules for units being partially engaged
in close combat it seems to imply that
unengaged models may fire in the shooting
phase but doesn’t state specifically whether they
can or can’t. Is it allowed to shoot with unengaged
models? And may they shoot at enemy models
from the unit attacking their buddies?
A
Yes, unengaged models may shoot with the
normal restrictions. They may not shoot at
enemy models attacking their buddies unless
the enemy unit is making a sweeping advance (see
p69). However I suspect that this question is arising
because the rules for drawn combats are not very
well stated in the book. If a unit loses a close
combat but passes its Morale check the result
counts as a Drawn Combat (also p69). This means
that all unengaged models move in to join the fight,
moving up to 6" to fight an enemy model (going for
unengaged opponents first). If this rule is applied,
unengaged models at the peripheries of a close
combat become something of a rarity – after the
first round of fighting one of the units fighting will
either fall back or both sides will move in any
unengaged models to carry on the fight next turn.
Ork Boy
Ork Nob
Ork Boy
Ork Boy Casualty
Space Marines
For example: the Space Marine unit charges into
the Ork unit. In the subsequent close combat the
Space Marine unit succeeds in killing one Ork
model, whereas the Ork unit inflicts no casualties in
return. The Ork unit has to make a morale check for
losing the combat and passes it, meaning that the
combat counts as a draw. As both
units have unengaged models
to move in to the fight they
roll off to see who moves
first. The Ork player
wins and moves his Ork
Nob and Ork Boy into
close combat with the
two unengaged Space
Marine models.
 ®

THE ROAD OF SKULLS

by Jervis Johnson

When we were working on the old 2nd edition version of Codex Chaos, I got to know
a certain Graham Sheckles from the 40K mailing list on the Internet. Graham has to
be one of the most dedicated and persistent followers of our Lord Khorne, and his
e-mails always have some dedication or another to his patron deity (back in those
days it was ‘every day I pray for the Chaos Codex’ – and it worked too!). Anyway, WHAT’S CHAPTER
Graham got in touch the other day, worried that his carefully converted Khorne APPROVED ALL
Berzerker Chaos Terminators would not be allowed under the new rules. “Don’t worry ABOUT?
Graham,” I replied, “although there aren’t special rules for Berzerker Terminators, you Each month Chapter
Approved takes a
can still use them – they just count as Terminators now, that’s all.” This wasn’t enough look at the
for Graham however – he wanted his beloved chain-axe wielding, 2+ armour Warhammer 40,000
save protected, combi- game and its rules,
weapon armed Berzerker introducing different
Terminators to be even scenarios, weapons,
rules and army list
better than the common entries of all types,
herd of Terminators. Well, frequently stolen
because I hate to see a from Codexes in
grown man cry (and progress here at the
because, if anyone really Studio. It also acts as
does have a chain-axe, a forum for dedicated
40K players who
it’s Graham), in the end have produced
I’ve given in to his inspired, well
requests and come up thought-out and just
with rules for ‘Cult’ plain brilliant
Terminators. However, as additions to the game
(as arbitrated by that
I explained to Graham, well-known model of
I’ve charged a lot of points fairness and balance
for the privilege of – me). If you’ve got
upgrading Terminators in something good for
this way, and you’ll have Chapter Approved
to paint or convert your then write in to:
own models to represent Andy Chambers
them too, just like Graham (Chapter Approved),
did. Games Workshop,
Willow Lane, Lenton,
Nottingham, NG7
2WS
Cult Terminators Note: Please don’t
include rules queries
Chaos Space Marine Terminators may be upgraded to Khorne Berzerkers, Plague
etc. with your letters
Marines, Noise Marines or Thousand Sons at an additional cost of +20 points per as the volume of mail
model in the squad. All of the models must belong to the same cult, and must be (and the fact that I’m
represented by a suitably converted model bearing the Mark of their patron power. lazy) means in most
The upgrade has the following effect: cases I won’t be able
to send individual
Khorne Berzerker Terminators: Models in Khorne Berzerker Terminator squads replies.
add +1 to their Strength.
Plague Marine Terminators: Models in Plague Marine Terminator squads add +1 to
their Toughness.
Noise Marine Terminators: Models in Noise Marine Terminator squads add +1
attack. Also Noise Marine Terminators may replace their combi-bolter with a sonic
blaster at an additional cost of +10 pts. Up to three models may replace their combi-
bolters with one of the following weapons: a blastmaster at +30 pts, or a doom siren at +15 pts.
Thousand Sons Terminators: Shooting attacks that have a Strength of 4 or less will not effect a
Thousand Sons Terminator.
Fearless: In addition to the above, all Cult Terminators are Fearless and therefore will never fall back and
cannot be pinned. They are assumed to automatically pass any Morale check. 79